Now that you’ve seen the Downton Abbey movie are you ready for the prequel? Because DA creator Julian Fellowes is moving to HBO to tell the story of 19th-century American millionaires and their eventual marriages to broke British aristocrats (the initial premise of Downton Abbey, by the way, for the rest of you just now joining us). Gilded Age will revolve around a young woman, the orphaned daughter of a Southern general who moves into the high society home of her aunts in New York City. Much like on DA, wealthy hijinks and intrigue will ensue, and the servants will probably have the most compelling story lines. So far the cast includes Sex and the City icon and progressive queer activist Cynthia Nixon, Christine Baranski and Amanda Peet. And with no more Downton on the horizon (for now), we’ll be ready for every bit of this one’s certain lavish period detail. More as it develops.
Lee Daniels, the one-gay entertainment production machine who seems allergic to not having a dozen projects in development at the same time, is about to shoot his next film. He’ll go into production next month in Canada on The United States vs. Billie Holiday. With a screenplay by Suzan-Lori Parks – the first African-American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for her play Topdog/Underdog – and inspired by Johann Hari’s book Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, the film will star singer-songwriter Andra Day as the legendary Holiday. The story will be less biopic and more narrowly focused on the time in Holiday’s career when she was strategically targeted by the U.S. government in a narcotics sting operation and involved in an affair with the operation’s black undercover agent. Joining Day are Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight), Garrett Hedlund (Mudbound), and Russian Doll’s Natasha Lyonne. No word on release dates yet but this feels like a late 2020 award contender to us.
Romeo San Vincente loves all of the Sex and the City girls!
